Category Archives: children
brass players and drinking
My son is learning the trumpet, and has now been told to ‘have a drink after you finish practising’. Of course water is what is meant, but it explains a lot! In fairness to brass players everywhere, I will recount … Continue reading
the Festival opening night
Various family members were involved in this and I found myself dashing all over town to keep up. It began by watching, and then following, my son in the procession of children carrying their artwork on a ‘sea’ theme down … Continue reading
Dayglo recorders
We had one of these (made from orange plastic), but it hasn’t been too good in recorder class at school, what with the usual beginner’s tendency to overblow. We’ve replaced it with a brown Yamaha version which sounds rather better. … Continue reading
a dozen a day
A couple of weeks ago my daughter started having piano lessons. I don’t intend to document her progress regularly here, but the experience of watching someone starting out is proving fascinating. It’s all so far in the past now that … Continue reading
two children’s books
Among various books which have been given to the children by an American friend are a couple with a musical theme. Opera Cat is a preposterous tale about a cat, Alma, who belongs to a Milanese opera singer, Madame SoSo. … Continue reading
the wheels on the bus
[I see that a lot of people have found their way to this page looking for guitar chords for 'The Wheels on the Bus'. Here is a simple harmonisation of the version I know (there is a different one in … Continue reading
musical memories of the Highlands
Yesterday I went to a reunion at my old primary school, The Highlands School, Tilehurst. I didn’t get very much opportunity to relive shared memories as it turned out that few of the former staff and pupils who attended overlapped … Continue reading
what I gave/got for Christmas
Various CDs got distributed at Christmas time. I received a set of the Beaux Arts trio playing Beethoven’s piano trios which I’m gradually working my way through. As well as the canonical works it contains some rarities such as the … Continue reading
singing at the nursery
Yesterday I repeated something I did a couple of years ago and went to my son’s nursery to lead the children there in some singing. They like parents to come in and do things for the children from time to … Continue reading